Bjeshkët e Nemuna, Kosovo's great mountain park

If I had to explain in one sentence why western Kosovo deserves more than a day, I would say Bjeshkët e Nemuna. It is the territory’s great mountain range, the wall you see behind Peja, Deçan and Gjakova, and it has been a national park since 2012.

What the law protects

Law 04/L-086, passed on 13 December 2012, makes this part of the range a national park for its forests and ecosystems, its many endemic and relict species and its geological, hydrological and landscape value, and recognises its scientific, educational, cultural and tourism interest too. It fixes the area at 62,488 hectares, shared between the municipalities of Gjakova, Junik, Deçan, Peja and Istog.

The boundary the law draws reads almost like a route. It starts in the south by the Qafë Morinë pass, at 1,385 m, climbs north above the villages, runs north-west of Visoki Dečani Monastery, crosses Peja’s river on the Rugova Canyon road, skirts Radavc by the source of the White Drin and the road to Montenegro, and closes on the border to the north.

Three zones and a buffer

Article 3 divides the park into zones. The first is under strict protection, for the most valuable areas and rare or threatened species. The second, of active management, allows ecotourism, traditional farming and compatible activities. The third, of sustainable use, takes in villages, pastures and tourism, always under the park plan. Around it runs a 50 m buffer. The precise layout is set by the spatial plan, which I could not consult.

Management falls to a directorate based in Peja, under the Kosovo Environmental Protection Agency (AMMK). Its page says it acts against illegal logging, hunting, fishing, building and land grabs, and handles fire prevention. For you, that means the park is no place for wild camping wherever you fancy, or for lighting fires.

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What is inside

The most visited part is Rugova, in Peja municipality. Here you find the villages of Drelaj and Bogë, the guesthouses, the via ferrata routes and the Liqenat and Drelaj lakes, at about 1,800-1,860 m, which Peja’s tourism website suggests walking to in roughly two hours from Kuqishtë. The same website, a secondary source, gives heights for peaks such as Guri i Kuq (2,522 m), Çfërla (2,461 m) and Hajla (2,403 m). The Peaks of the Balkans also runs through these mountains, the trail linking Kosovo with Albania and Montenegro, which according to that same website can be started in Peja.

Further south, in Junik and Deçan, the park climbs towards Gjeravica, given as 2,656 m in the Spanish Foreign Ministry’s profile, Kosovo’s highest summit. The boundary passes just west of Junik village and north-west of the monastery, so the high ground of both municipalities lies inside.

Bears, lynx and old glaciers

The study the Kosovo Institute for Nature Protection wrote in 2003 to make the case for the park, which the environment agency still publishes alongside the law, helps you read the landscape. It describes a range about 50 km from north to south and no more than 26 km across, rising almost sheer from the Dukagjin plain, and splits it into three groups divided by the Peja and Deçan river valleys. Gjeravica belongs to the southern group, with Marjashi (2,530 m) and Maja e Ropës (2,505 m) close by.

The same study explains that glaciers shaped the relief, the largest some 25 km long in the Peja river basin, and that the cirques around Gjeravica still hold ten glacial lakes. For wildlife it lists 37 mammal and 148 bird species, among them lynx, brown bear, chamois, eastern imperial eagle and golden eagle. Don’t count on spotting them from the path. Knowing they are up there is enough for me to tread a little more carefully.

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Before you go

The FCDO is very specific about this area. It flags old landmines along the Albanian border and on the high ground where Kosovo meets Albania and Montenegro, wants you on the main roads and tracks, and mentions the April to October wildfire season and landslips after heavy weather. My rule is simple. On Rugova’s waymarked trails, go on your own; for the border summits or a multi-day traverse, take a local guide. And because the GHIC counts for nothing here, check that your policy includes hill walking.

I found no entry fee or opening hours, and access is by public roads. Routes in more detail are on hiking in Kosovo, and the comparison with the other national park, the Sharr Mountains, on national parks in Kosovo.